


Phantom Club

by Okami01



Series: SoftGoroWeek2020 [4]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Crushes, Fluff, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25403422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okami01/pseuds/Okami01
Summary: Akechi recently started attending Shujin Highschool. He thinks it's actually pretty borning, until he meets three strangely friendly students. Prompt - Au
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist, Sakamoto Ryuji/Takamaki Ann
Series: SoftGoroWeek2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831651
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Phantom Club

There wasn't much good to be said about Shujin Academy on paper. Or off paper for that matter. But it was where Akechi enrolled to stay off the grid. It was safer for his Mom that way. Beyond reasons of sentimentality, it would be easier to get his revenge on his father when the time came. 

The time, unfortunately, was not now. Right now. Akechi had to contend with exams, attendance, school functions, love letters stuffed into the side of his desk, and most irritatingly, the Phantoms. 

The three students in this school who were troublemakers that didn't have a real club of their own. Whose leader carried a cat with him in a bag. Who seemed to bring down one of the teachers who was abusing his students. Hardly anyone seemed to notice. Most of the people in this school were stupid. That's how Akechi liked it. People who were ignorant and didn't notice things were good people to hide among. 

But they made boring company. Not that Akechi actually wanted company. 

Not that Akechi needed company or anything. He was glad that these misfits had shown up. No one was concerned about Akechi with them around. He was good at learning to adapt to new situations. At learning. Being easy and basic wasn't exactly easy. It was still easier than some of the things he's had to do. 

He had tried and that was unsuccessful. Over competitive got the best of him. Now a bunch of girls called him a prince when they thought he wasn't listening. The only other person with really good grades was Makoto Niijima. They called her a teacher's pet. Akechi would rather be a prince than a pet. 

Akechi's plans to be left alone are seemingly dashed one day before homeroom began. Sitting at his desk trying to read his book. When the delinquent leader of the club comes over to his desk. His footsteps are light. Akechi wonders if he's doing so on purpose. Either way, his reading has been interrupted. The choice between pretending to read until the boy goes away or simply ignoring him are both there. The thought of engrossing himself back in his novel while being stared at isn't all that appealing. 

The dark-haired boy sort of looms over Akechi. Blocking his light. Akechi thinks his name might be Akira. Off in the distance, he thinks he hears that strange blonde-haired girl giggle.

Akechi suppresses a sigh and puts his bookmark in.   
"Hello," he says in his pleasant sing-songy voice. " Do you need something?"

" Do you like to read?" Akira asks. 

Akechi works hard not to look annoyed. In theory yes. " I do."

" Do you want to join a club?"

" If I wanted to join a book club I most certainly would." 

" There isn't one of those here. And the library is usually noisy."

Akechi isn't sure why he's being told this. " I suppose that's why I'm reading at my desk. Thank you for your insight."

Akira shakes his head. Opens his mouth to say something. Akechi can't imagine what it is. 

The bell rings. He doesn't know if he's upset or relieved. Only when their teacher starts droning on and Akira sits down in his seat lighting fast. 

Akechi watches him carefully today. Akira talks to his cat, checks his phone, and makes what looks like lock picks at his desk. None of the teachers seem to notice. More inconfidence.

The day seems to go by incredibly slowly. 

At the end of it, Ann marches over to his desk. The parade of weirdos today. 

Chipperly and in English for some reason, she says. " Hi." With a wave and a smile.

Akechi smiles back. " Hello."

" My name is Ann Takamaki. I don't know if we've talked much before." 

They hadn't. Akechi was fine keeping it that way. Apparently, this was happening. 

" Well, I suppose we're talking now. " I'm Akechi Goro. 

She laughs again. It's such a carefree sound. 

" Ok so… You should join our club.

And for some reason, Akechi does this. 

____

Maybe there's something about cat owners that changes the way they make friends. It's actually a very silly hypothesis. He, unfortunately, does not have much information to draw upon. That delinquent cat lover, the foreign model girl, the crude former track member, and their cat that they apparently didn't think anyone noticed. 

Which made sense actually. Most of the people in the school were idiots. Akechi just needed to figure out if they were as well. or if this was some sort of elaborate ploy due to his past. 

They invited him up to the rooftop. A strange place for a club room.   
. A wonder that the school let them have space for their club in the first place. 

They're out there, eating chips, drinking tea, reading magazines, and playing video games. When they hear the door opening, they all look over and smile. Akechi smiles back.

This can't be real. If they're just going to goof around in school then what's the point of being here? Why not just go home. To one of their houses. Isn't that what regular students do? Akechi isn't quite sure what regular students do per se. He knows that if the question hadn't been asked, then he'd be at his house. Or doing his work. Neither were particularly pleasant options.

At least there are free snacks. Perhaps a quiet place to read his book. Or at least a place with fewer people. 

They all spoke to him. That was a strange different type of small talk. 

" I'm glad you came, Goro-san,' Ann chirped while flipping through some sort of fashion magazine. 

" Clubs need more members to stay functioning. And this one seems quaint, not too much pressure or anything. "

He laughs and so does Ann so he must be doing something right. 

" Yeah we all just hang out here, you know," Ryuji says. Or yells really. 

Akechi doesn't know. That's why he's here. 

" I see," he replies instead. 

Akira nods like he's used to all of this. The cat meows and he watches it as if he can decipher the meaning. Strange. 

Akechi watches the three of them He has decided to stay for now. It's actually sort of nice in the next few days. Then again, the bar is pretty low. 

The bar for people being nice to him for no particular is very low. There must be a reason. Everyone wants something. He just needs to figure out what it is. 

As he sits on the rooftop, halfway reading and halfway listening to Ryuji and Ann yelling about pop culture nonsense. Fully aware that Akira keeps staring at him. That if he cleaned up his hair and wore contacts, he'd be handsome. Not that he isn't actually good looking already. A thought that plagues Akechi's mind more than it should. No one in the club knows how to wear their uniforms properly. 

Akechi just wants a place to read, and if he joins anyone else's club they'll only be a nuance. 

Akira is suddenly near him, smiling a bit and offering Akechi a thermos. Akechi wonders if it's filled with alcohol. Maybe that's why they're here. 

" You should drink this," Akira says. 

Akechi opens the thermos, stares down into it. Coffee. 

" I just started learning how to brew it." He mutters. 

How strange. 

He stares down at it, idly wondering if it's poisoned. It smells good. Akechi takes a sip, deciding to take a risk for a change. 

" I thought you might want a nice place to read."

'Why do you care?' Akechi thinks. The question dies in his throat.

"People seem to watch you," Akira continues. 

.Akechi takes another swing of coffee, mostly to hide his surprise. 

It's actually good though. He says as much. And hands Akira the thermos back. Then, and probably against his better judgment he says. " You seem to stare at me a lot."

Akira looks at the ground, then back up at Akechi. Ann's muffled giggling comes from the other side of the rooftop. If there is something funny, well, Akechi doesn't actually care to laugh. It would still be nice to know. These people are strange. 

" You were staring at me," Akira replies.

It seems incredibly childish to say, ' Well you were staring at me first.' So he doesn't. It's clearly not good to not say anything. 

" You've only just arrived and I wondered if you were truly the delinquent that people say you are. I think those people are wrong to make assumptions. Still, I do not think I was looking at you more than I like at anyone else." That's a lie of course. The truth isn't the ideal answer at the moment. 

Akira cocks his head to the side. Akechi swears he's blushing. " I think… that you're someone who's nice to look at.'

Akechi blinks. He thinks that he's blushing now too. He stifles a groan. What is that supposed to mean?

" Oh, why thank you," he replies with a smile.

Akira nods. Then he goes back to sit up against the wall to the building. Flipping a playing card between his fingers and talking to his cat. 

Ann tries, once again, to get him to eat some of the cookies that she's made. Ryuji shakes his head in the background. Akechi wonders why this is. Until he takes a bite of one and swears that you could probably murder someone with it. 

" They're good," he lies. " Maybe if you baked them less next time," he suggests. Clearly, this is something that's happened before. If Akechi can help it, he'd like to eat cookies that aren't horrible. 

" See, Ann." Ryuji chimes in."He's just bein' nice. You need to stop baking. You're gonna kill someone like that."

Akira mutters, "It's you're funeral," from across the room. Even though this isn't anything close to real pain. 

She glares and smacks Ryuji in the back.   
" Ow, if you're gonna hit me every time I do something stupid then what."

'Then don't say anything stupid,' Akechi thinks. 

Ann yells the same thing. Like she's read his mind somehow.

" Don't do anything, stupid," could also work," Akira chimes in. 

" Aww not you too," Ryuji says. " You didn't like them either."

" It's the thought that counts."

" That's such a um…" Ryuji rubs his forehead.

" Cliche," Akechi supplies. He doesn't know how Ryuji got into high school in the first place. 

" Yeah, that!"

Then Ann says, " If you don't like my baking so much then we should all go out and get crepes."

That's interesting. Now Akechi wants a crepe, not that he's willing to admit that. 

"Who's paying for that?" Ryuji yells. 

Ann points at him. " You."

" Aww, Ann if I paid for your pastries every time I wouldn't have any money."

" You owe me money," she states.

" I don't have any," he replies, waving his hands in the air. 

" Me neither!"

" That's why we're destined to eat your burnt cookies forever."

They continue to bicker. It doesn't seem hostile though. Friendly almost. They're all so nice and weird. 

Akechi has met a lot of strange people in his life. But never like this. 

And he realizes that, all throughout this exchange, Akira has been laughing softly. Akechi laughed a little bit too. Even more alarmingly, he was staring at Akira again. It was going to be a long year.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Softgoroweek! Thanks for reading (:   
> Maybe not the most exciting au but I just want Akechi to make friends and badly flirt with Akira. 
> 
> @Tavitay on twitter


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